In 2011, a number of changes were made to the CVR MLS Rules & Regulations, and for the past several months, CVR MLS staff has been making courtesy calls to MLS users warning of impending fines for outstanding violations.  

Now that MLS users have become more familiar with the rules and regulations, CVR MLS will be discontinuing the courtesy call process effective Monday, March 19th, 2012. Enforcement procedures and fines for violations are outlined in the CVR MLS Rules and Regulations. When a violation is reported, the CVR MLS User receives a notice via email. The User then has five (5) days to correct the error or dispute the finding of violation.  

An example might be contact information in public remarks. The automated check system looks for patterns of numbers and letters to identify telephone numbers and email addresses in the remarks field. When it detects such a pattern, an automatic violation notice is generated requesting that the information be removed. Sometime the numbers or letters identified are tax id numbers or other information descriptive of the property, and not an agent or firm's email or phone number. In this case, the User would respond to the email and notify CVR MLS staff that the information is not a violation. Violations that are not corrected or disputed within five (5) days of the date of violation notice are assessed a fine.   

The goal of the enforcement process is to ensure the integrity of the CVR MLS database. In order to avoid unnecessary fines, MLS Users should promptly review and respond to all violation notices and verify that their current email address is on file with the service. If you have questions concerning a violation notice, you can contact the CVR MLS at 804-422-5004.  

In order to continue to provide members with the best possible service, CVR MLS has been working with our current MLS provider to provide a new, customizable IDX solution for members. This solution is easy to set up and will provide many new options, such as the ability to gather leads from the listing, modifying the style of the website, and change the verbiage displayed to visitors.  

Please note that if you are currently using the CVR MLS frameable IDX solution, you will be receiving a separate email explaining how to set up your new IDX site. If you aren't currently using the CVR MLS frameable IDX solution and would like more information about it, please contact Jim Tomasello at jtomassello@rarealtors.com or 804.422.5004. 

Toward the end of 2011, regulatory changes were made to make the Seller Concessions field required when changing a listing status to Pending but not to display the information entered until the listing was changed to Sold status. Another planned change was to make the field numeric only. This change was intended to make it easier for members to search the content contained in the field. As this change was implemented, CVR MLS realized that any content in this field which contained alpha characters would be lost when the field was changed to numeric only.  

To prevent the loss of valuable data, a new search field entitled Seller Concessions History was added into Tempo™ on March 6, 2012, which holds any data added to the Seller Concessions field prior to this date. The Seller Concessions field will now accept numeric entries only.  

Some helpful new features are now available for CVR MLS members within Instanet™ Transaction Desk, such as:

• Tasks 
• Calendar/Appointments  
• Automated Reminders
• Service Ordering 

These new features are excellent tools to ensure optimal organization and task management through each stage of a transaction. Call 804.422.5000 to register for an Instanet™ hands-on training session for Agents on March 15, from 9am-12pm.  

Brokers--don't forget to also try out the Broker Compliance Manager feature, which can save enormous amounts of time and paper while reviewing transactions ready to be closed.    

If you have questions regarding these or any other Instanet™ Transaction Desk features, please contact CVR MLS at 804.422.5004. 

Tempo® training courses are available to all CVR MLS members free of charge and most carry CE/PL credits.  

 
March 15 - Instanet™ Solutions Hands-On Training for Agents
March 19 - Instanet™ Solutions Class
March 27 - RE Stats
March 28 - MLS Rules & Regulations 

 
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